


On and Off Again

by alifletcher2010



Category: Throne of Glass Series - Sarah J. Maas
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - No Powers, Enemies to Lovers, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, Hijinks & Shenanigans, Humor, Idiots in Love, Light Angst, Mutual Pining
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-19
Updated: 2021-03-25
Packaged: 2021-03-28 22:15:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,968
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30146403
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alifletcher2010/pseuds/alifletcher2010
Summary: Aelin Galathynius is a fiery editor who is allergic to technology.Rowan Whitethorn is the gruff IT guy with exactly zero people skills.Its a match made in IT hell.
Relationships: Aelin Ashryver Galathynius | Celaena Sardothien & Rowan Whitethorn, Aelin Ashryver Galathynius | Celaena Sardothien/Rowan Whitethorn
Comments: 5
Kudos: 44





	1. Chapter 1

“No.”

The voice on the other end of the line said after picking up.

“But Rowan! You don’t even know what I’m going to say yet!” Aelin huffed.

“I know that it’s 8:30 on a Monday and I haven’t even been able to finish my coffee and therefore it is far too early for me to be dealing with whatever thing you’ve broken this time,” he replied, gruff voice dripping with frustration.

“Okayyy. But my monitor isn’t working.” Aelin grimaced at the mess of cords in front of her. It wasn’t like she meant for these things to happen….they just did. Technology hated her.

“Aelinnnnnnnnn.” His voice sounded oddly muffled and Aelin could hear thumping, much like Rowan was banging his head against his desk.

“Rowwwwwwaaannnnnn,” her voice saccharinely sweet.

His only response was an exasperated groan.

“Good news though. I know what the problem is. You know, if that helps,” she said.

“No, no, no, that makes it worse. Don’t touch anything, I will be right there.”

“Ohhh oh oh- don’t hang up yet. I’m gonnna need a new one of those hdeememee cords.”

Groan. Again.

“You mean HDMI?”

“Yup,” Aelin said with a pop.

Rowan grunted out, “I really hate you sometimes,” before the click of the receiver.

Five minutes later, Rowan Whitethorn, Head of IT, computer wizard, and all around asshole was standing at Aelin’s desk, frowning at the mess of severed cables. He was unfairly gorgeous, especially for someone who spent his days talking about servers and computation cycles, with his forest green eyes and strong jaw. His shirts stretched cruelly across his chest, buttons straining to keep him contained, tormenting her.

“What did you do?” the words barely getting out past his clenched teeth making his perfect jaw stand out.

Fate was a cruel mistress. How else could Aelin explain that the worst person she had ever met looked as good as he did. It was just wrong.

“Well, I came into today and my desk had all been rearranged-

“Obviously. The editorial staff got new monitors. I sent a memo. This has been in the works for ages Aelin.”

“Yeah, well…I DEFINITELY read that email…”

Rowan put his head in his hands and groaned.

“Anyway…my monitor wasn’t where I liked it and the cords were all…neat.”

Rowan glared at her. “Yeah. Because it took me an hour to untangle all those cords. You had three that weren’t even connected to anything!!”

“Hey!” Aelin protested, ”Maybe I liked it like that…anyway, well, they were all organized, and zip tied together and I couldn’t move it…So I tried to cut the zip tie…”

“And cut the HDMI instead. Do I want to know what you used to cut it with?”

Aelin surreptitiously slid the silver incriminating knife off her desk and back into her purse, “Umm…definitely not my diving knife…”

“Gods, Aelin, why? Why do you have a knife on you?”

“I wear it when I run,” she replied nonchalantly, like this explained everything.

Rowan was pinching the bridge of his nose now, exuding frustration. “That still doesn’t explain why you have it with you at the office?! And why couldn’t you have used scissors. Or better yet, called me before bringing lethal weapons into the equation?!”

“I always have a knife on me, for protection. And would you have rather I brought my Bowie knife around with me?!”

Rowan just looked at her incredulously before getting to work replacing the cord. She might have heard him mumbling under his breath, but she couldn’t be sure. In about three minutes he had righted the mess and then stalked off, not even bothering to say goodbye.

“Thank you!!!” she called after him.

Aelin was not totally positive, but he _may_ have flipped her off.

-

“Why are you looking at knives again, Aelin?”

Aelin turned from where she was curled up on their couch, to see her roommate and best friend Lysandra looking over at her computer screen.

“Oh hey, I didn’t hear you come in. I’m thinking Italian for dinner, what about you?” She jumped up and slammed the lid on her laptop, hoping to hide the incriminating evidence.

Lys gave her an exasperated looked. “Don’t change the subject Ace.”

Aelin mumbled something as she peered into their fridge.

“What’s that? I didn’t quite catch that?” Lysandra smirked.

Taking a deep breath, Aelin looked up from the fridge, “Rowan got my diving knife taken away by HR today. Happy?”

“Do I even want to know why?”

“He rearranged my desk! The jerk installed a new monitor and untangled all my cords and _organized_ them! He even color coded them and zip tied them so they’d stay in place and…like who does that?” Aelin shuddered.

“I dunno Ace, organized people?”

“He thinks he’s too good for the rest of us peons who have normal, unorganized desks, so he just had to go mess with my stuff…so I’m getting a new knife. And then I’m going to stab it through his stupid, uppity, desk.”

“Or maybe…here’s a thought, you don’t, so you don’t get fired.” Lysandra said.

“Finnnne. But I can dream.”

“You know, seeing you this worked up about your favorite IT guy, it still makes me think you might just like him.”

Lysandra ducked quickly to avoid the basically empty bottle of ketchup that whizzed past her head.

“Hilarious, Lys. And never gonna happen,” Aelin glared at her with narrowed eyes.

Lysandra just smirked in response. “You know, I think I’m going to write down all these fun little interactions, so I can embarrass you at your wedding and read them aloud in my maid of honor speech.”

Aelin grabbed another empty condiment bottle to throw at her roommate, but Lys was already darting down the hall.

She like Rowan?

 _Never_.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Apparently this is turning into a full blown fic now

“You know, we have the online ticket submission for a reason.”

“Yeah,” Aelin replied. “But that would require being able to access my computer.”

“Galathynius, what did you do?” Rowan grumbled.

“I swear it wasn’t me! I came in today and I couldn’t log on. I tried my password, I swear it was the right password, and it didn’t work! And I know its the right password, because I typed it out exactly as it was on my note.”

There was a beat of silence.

“You have your password written down?”

Aelin quickly pulled the sticky from off the corner of her desk and crumpled it up.

“Um. _Noooo_.”

“And that suspicious crumpling of paper was what now?” Rowan asked. Aelin could just picture him in his chair, pinching his nose in exasperation.

“Nothing.” Aelin said. “Anyway, what’s going on, why can’t I login.”

Rowan hummed, “Let me see…” Aelin could hear him clicking away. “Well, there’s the problem. You were supposed to reset your password yesterday.”

“Really?”

“Yes, Aelin. Every three months. We’ve been over this. Its basic cybersecurity. Like so basic. Did you not read your reminder emails?”

Aelin grimaced, “Ummm…”

A groan. “Galathynius, if I wasn’t already, I swear you’d make my hair turn grey.”

“ _Bastard_ ,” Aelin mumbled under her breath.

“What was that?”

“Nothing! Can you just, fix it, please?”

“Already done. Just type in a new password, ” Rowan said.

“Wonderful. Thanks. I would say have a nice day, but I kinda hope you choke on your lunch.”

“The feelings mutual.” Rowan replied, “Oh, and Aelin…your new password had better not be _‘password_ ’ or I will make you do the online security and privacy training again.”

Aelin didn’t even bother to reply before hanging up.

-

Aelin plopped down in the stool between Elide and Lysandra with a dramatic sigh. She got the attention of the surly bartender with a wave of her hand “Double whiskey, neat, please.”

“Wow, Ace, hitting the hard stuff this early?” Elide commented.

“Don’t even start with me El, I’ve had a day,” Aelin said.

Lysandra smirked at her, “Did you have another skirmish with the hot IT guy?”

“Did I ever…the stupid, pompous, asshat! He can’t open his mouth without belittling me! Today he threatened to make me do training again. Ugh. I don’t know where he gets off,” The bartender handed Aelin her drink and she took a large swig of it.

“Ok, so I realize he’s a jerk, but he’s not like the _only_ IT guy, right?” Elide asked, “Your office is huge, there has to be more than one. Just call one of them next time.”

Lysandra collapsed into a fit of giggles. “Oh gods, Elide. You have no idea what can of worms you just opened.” She could barely get the words out for laughing.

“What?” Elide asked, obviously confused.

“Its nothing,” Aelin said, refusing to make eye contact and instead stared into her glassy moodily.

“Oh come on, Ace. Tell her.”

“No!”

“Fine, I will!”

Aelin reached over to clasp her hand over Lysandra’s face, “Don’t you dare. I know where you sleep, woman.”

Undaunted, Lysandra licked Aelin’s hand. Though the tactic was less than mature, it was effective in getting Aelin to let her go.

“Gross! What are we, in grade school! That’s disgusting Lys!”

“But it worked!” Lysandra sing-songed. “Anyway, yes, there are two or maybe three other IT folks in Aelin’s office, I think-”

“Two,” Aelin cut in, “the third quit.”

“And they all refuse to work with Aelin. She’s the reason the third one quit, in fact.”

Elide laughed. “She’s joking, right?”

Aelin flushed, “I wish. The guy took one look at my desktop and had a breakdown.”

“No, way.”

“Yes, way.” Lysandra said. “She doesn’t save anything in folders and literally the entire screen is full of icons. The. Entire. Screen. So she’s stuck with the IT guys whose hotness doesn’t quite make up for his personality. Aelin is besotted, of course.”

“Shut up,” Aelin hissed. “I am not.”

She didn’t look up from her drink, but if she did, she would’ve seen her friends give each other a knowing look.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> CW: NSFW pop-ups are discussed

Aelin pressed the button on her screens to wake up her computer as she settled into her desk for the day, popping in her headphones and getting comfortable. All her windows and tabs were still open from the day before, just how she liked them. Sure, it grated on Rowan who was constantly after her to shut down her computer when she left for the day, but that was just an added benefit. And she did shut it down on the weekends. Mostly.

A quiet _ping_ sounded, signaling a new message on the company’s internal messaging system. It was her cousin, Aedion, who worked in the graphic design department of the large publisher. Their daily conversations were one of the few things that kept her sane, especially when she a a particularly boring article to read.

 **Aedion** : I’m dying. I’ve been at work for 5 minutes and I can’t keep my eyes open.

 **Aelin** : haha. You can come edit this article on the economic impact of the new tax embargos

 **Aedion:** I’ll pass. Sorry you’re still stuck with the grunt work

 **Aelin** : I’ve just got to put in my time and then i can request a department transfer to the literary arm. Assuming I don’t die of boredom first.

 **Aedion:** Ohh. You want something to spice up your day?

 **Aelin** : Do you even have to ask?

 **Aedion** : You should check out the email Connall sent a bit ago.

Aelin clicked over to her work email and pulled up her inbox, scrolling until she found the one Aedion was referring to. She wasn’t sure what an email titled “For Your Viewing Pleasure” had in it that would be so interesting, and honestly, it sounded like a scam, but if Aedion recommended it, it couldn’t be all that bad. She opened it to find a nearly blank email with just a link, which she clicked through to. And very, very immediately regretted it.

The link was very obviously a download to a virus of some sort, because not two seconds had passed, pop up and pop up filled her screen, each more obscene than the last.

 **Aelin:** I don’t like you right now. How was that supposed to spice up my day now?

 **Aedion** : It wasn’t. It was for my benefit. But you have to admit, that number of dicks is bound to keep you awake.

 **Aelin:** I really don’t like you.

She closed out of the messenger and glared at the screen. Aelin could already imagine Rowan’s snooty face looking down at her for once again, infecting her computer with something. She absolutely could not bear the embarrassment. So instead of calling for help, she decided she would try her hand out at getting rid of it herself.

Half an hour later, and Aelin was seriously regretting her decisions. Before, there had just been a few pop ups that she could shift around to get to her work. Now her screen was covered. Layers deep. She couldn’t even find her taskbar anymore. Sighing, she picked up her phone and called Rowan.

“So how do you feel about genitalia?” she said, when she heard him pick up.

“You didn’t, Aelin. For the love of all that is good, please, please tell me you didn’t,” Rowan begged.

“Umm, I could tell you that, but I’d be lying,” Aelin answered.

“Hold on,” Rowan muttered, followed by the sound of the phone being sat down roughly onto the desk. The stream of swearing that followed next was enough to make even Aelin blush.

After a moment, Rowan picked up the handset again.

“Feel better?” Aelin asked coyly, failing to keep the laughter from her voice.

“Much,” Rowan mumbled. “So I’m guessing you opened the emails from Connall and now your computer is flooded with not safe for work pop ups? Even after I emailed everyone in the office expressly asking them not to as he’s got some wicked virus on his computer.”

“I’m pretty sure we’ve established that I don’t read any of your emails.” She was not about to tell him that her cousin had tricked her into opening the email. But yeah, she had also been resolutely ignoring his emails.

“Why do you insist on making my life so difficult?”

“HEY! I don’t do it on purpose, it’s not my fault technology is allergic to me.”

“Yeah, yeah, let me just remote override your computer real fast-“

“Rowan! Wait! Turn your vol-

But it was too late. The sound of loud, exaggerated moans and groans filtered through the phone speaker.

“-ume down.”

The sounds were cut off as Rowan finally found the volume.

“Oh GODS, the pop ups have sound. Please just kill me now.”

“Yup. I figured that one out the hard way. Lucky for me, I had my headphones in.”

Aelin watched as her mouse suddenly acted as if it had a life of its own and began sorting through all the pop ups. Each pop up Rowan got rid of only revealed more, each one more disturbing.

“Well, that’s a...creative use for office supplies.”

Rowan made gagging sounds, “I will never be able to look at a stapler the same way again.”

Another pop up came forward. “EWWW, NO. You should definitely not eat that after it's been in there. Ew no, no, no, noo. I think I’m going to go get a cup of coffee while you do this, Rowan. I think I’ll die if I have to see anymore of these.”

“Absolutely not,” Rowan said “If I have to suffer through this, so do you Galathynius. It is your fault we have to share this special bonding experience anyway.”

“Ugh, fine.” Aelin groaned. Another pop up. “Oh gods, that's like the ultimate 80s porn. Her hair has so much hairspray in it, it's not even moving. Like at all.”

Slowly Aelin’s screen cleared occasionally interjected with exclamations. The running commentary was the only thing keeping her sane.

“How do you even get in that position?”

“Oh, I’ve done that Rowan, you just-”

A startled choking sound came from the end of the line, and Aelin suddenly realized what she was saying.

“Umm, yeah.”

“Yeah.”

Awkward silence fell. Aelin could feel her face flush and it took all her willpower not to bang her head into the desk. Why couldn’t she stop making a fool of herself in front of the attractive IT guy who already thought she was inept and wasn’t afraid of letting her know it.

After a few more minutes, her screen was finally clear.

“Well, that should do it. Just whatever you do, don’t open any more emails from Connall.”

“Oh, yeah. Definitely,” Aelin said.

“Well, until the next time you break something Galathynius.”

“Oh, and Rowan. Thirty-seven.”

“What?” he asked.

“That’s how many dicks there were.”

The last thing she heard before he hung up was laughter.

-

Lysandra was quite literally rolling on the floor laughing.

“It’s not that funny Lys.” Aelin pouted.

“Wait, wait, wait,” Lysandra gasped out, wiping away tears, “Let me get this clear, after having to suffer through an insane amount of bad, cliche, porn pop-ups, you decide to explain to the super hot IT guy that can’t stand you and you supposedly can’t stand either how you did an upside down-”

Aelin threw a pillow at Lysandra. “I will kill you Lys, I will. And I won’t even feel bad about it.”

Lysandra couldn’t even reply, as she had dissolved into a fit of giggles again.

“How am I ever going to show my face at the office again? It was so humiliating.”

“You could just give him an in person tutorial. I’m sure it would go over well.”

Aelin threw another couch pillow at her.

“I’m not kidding Lys, no one will be able to find your body.”


End file.
